Session Abstract

Instruments in the 20th Century

Session Organiser: Paolo Brenni

During the 20th century, scientific instruments and their industry were completely revolutionized. The birth and the development of contemporary physics and electronics, the introduction of new materials and manufacturing technologies, the miniaturization of components, and the introduction of computers completely changed the tools of scientists. In a few decades, the relatively simple self-contained brass and glass apparatus disappeared and have been substituted by black boxes full of microchips, huge instrumental systems for nuclear and particle physics, large apparatus used by astrophysicists, intricate arrays of machines in the chemical and biological laboratories, etc.

For the historians of science and technology the study of 20th-century instruments presents a series of new challenges. Due to the very rapid progress, contemporary instruments have quite a short life and tend to be scrapped only after a few years of activities. Furthermore, in many cases, their preservation is often problematic because of their huge size and because they are rarely attractive from an aesthetic point of view. Cataloguing 20th century apparatus is also a hard task; their complexity often defy the classical way of describing them in scientific catalogues. The bibliography related to the contemporary apparatus is often extremely rich and requires a very deep scientific background to be fully understood. The scientific, the industrial and the social history of much contemporary apparatus can hardly be reconstructed without the contributions of the actors, who were involved in their planning, construction and use. And finally it is very difficult to exhibit modern ‘black boxes’ and instruments in museums in a way that can be attractive for the general public.

The ‘20th century section’ of the XIX Scientific Instrument Symposium is dedicated to the most modern part of the instrumental heritage, whose study and preservation will become more and more important in future years.

How can scientific instruments teach the historian about 20th-century physics?

Roland Wittje

One should not underestimate the potential value of scientific instruments in supplying the historian with original relics of scientific practice. For one thing these instruments can be a valuable source of information when other documentation is lacking. But studying the instrument, be this merely glancing at it, or actually performing an experiment with it, may also clarify questions left open by the other sources, raise new questions and stimulate to a new interpretation.

The wealth of 20th century scientific instruments that can be collected is enormous. Collection activity at museums is often guided by the value of an instrument as an exhibition object and not that much by its value as a material source for histories of science. Marvin Bolt has previously stressed the point by using an original early 20th century apparatus as a hands-on exhibit. What about collecting scientific instruments for historians of science who will practice with them? Should practising historians of science start to collect for themselves?

With the beginning of the electronic era in the 1920s a problem arises for the practising historian. Simple mechanical devices were replaced by complex electronic measurement systems, ‘black boxes’, even for the experimenting scientist. Certain vital parts of these instruments are not hand made but mass-produced and have a rather short lifetime. We will be able to exhibit these dead instruments but, it seems, in the long run we won’t be able to re-animate the originals or build working copies for practice.

J.W. Giltay: A Dutch instrument maker

Ms Trienke van der Spek

At the turn of the 19th century, Jan Willem Giltay (1851-1929) was the owner of P.J. Kipp & Zonen in Delft, one of the leading Dutch instrument making and trading companies of those days. The company still exists today, and is therefore the oldest surviving instrument-making firm of the Netherlands. The company started as a pharmacy in 1830. Besides the normal pharmaceutical products, its founder P.J. Kipp sold scientific instruments and chemicals as well. In 1887 the company split up and the sons of P.J. Kipp sold the instrument shop to Giltay. Jan Willem Giltay was a very good businessman, and under his supervision the company flourished. Besides that, he was very interested in science and technology and he spent all his spare time on doing scientific research. He published scientific articles on various subjects and had contacts with many renowned Dutch scientists and scientific institutions. Together with them new instruments evolved and existing models were improved. In this lecture I would like to focus on the special relationship between the tradesman and instrument maker J.W.Giltay and the scientific world around him. What was the influence of his scientific work on himself and his company, and in what way did his scientific colleagues benefit?

Protection and enrichment of the technical and scientific heritage of the 20th century

Catherine Cuenca

Following groundwork carried out at Nantes University, the problem of how to protect the technical and scientific heritage of the 20th century was encountered. A regional project with a technical and scientific background emerged, centred around the exploration and enhancement of ‘Essays on scientific, technical and industrial innovation of the 20th century’.

During the past 40 years, three aspects have marked the advancement of science and technology: rapidity, complexity and growing interdependence. With the arrival of the 21st century, it is becoming necessary to safeguard the technical and scientific heritage of the 20th century, to preserve the ‘living’ memory of higher education, of research and of companies by positioning it in the cycle of innovation in which it was born. Increasing awareness has made it possible to save objects (scientific instruments, manuscripts) that bear witness to research, to teaching as well as to the savoir-faire of the people who used them, at a time when researchers often, by necessity, overhaul laboratory and other equipment.

A study carried out in 1998, with certain higher education and research institutions of the Pays de la Loire region, revealed that the scientific and technical heritage of the 20th century was very rich.

In 1999-2000 we will document 1000 objects from the 20th century (identify, locate and make an inventory is a long-term task), and to develop and produce a DVD to promote awareness of saving the 20th-century heritage which, will have both a scientific and educational role, and is aimed at an ‘informed’ public and relies on the Institut de l’Homme et de la Technologie.

This project is financed by the state-region contract and this will continue in the institutions of the region from the years of 2000 to 2003.